Mike Huckabee is not in Kansas — er, Arkansas — anymore, but the former Governor from the Midwest still finds himself in somewhat strange territory as a new poll shows him tied with Mitt Romney atop the 2012 GOP field in a Northeastern state, New Jersey.
In the poll, both Huckabee and Romney drew the support of 18% of respondents. An additional 15% said Newt Gingrich was their first choice, while 14% went for Sarah Palin. Those four frontrunners were trailed by Ron Paul (8%), Tim Pawlenty (4%), Mitch Daniels (3%) and John Thune (2%).
The results are bad news for Romney since he, as a former governor from another Northeastern state, Massachusetts, should have a leg up in the region. Romney was in New Jersey last night to meet with Gov Chris Christie.
On the flip side, the results are great news for Huckabee, as it shows that he can hold his own in states without large conservative populations, his typical base. In PPP’s latest national survey, 63% of conservatives expressed a favorable opinion of Huckabee, second only to the 66% who felt favorably about Palin. Meanwhile, only 50% of conservatives in that poll said they had a favorable opinion of Romney.
One interesting omission from the poll is Rudy Giuliani, who recently hinted that he might run again in 2012. The poll was conducted before Giuliani floated that possibility, but as the former Mayor of New York City he could shake up the standings in neighboring Jersey.
The PPP poll was conducted January 6-9 among 400 Republican voters.
